[Python-ideas] Comment syntax similar to /* */ in C?

[Sturla Molden]

In Python a comment start from # and spans the rest of the line, similar 
to // in C++.

In C/C++, we can also make comments that don't span the rest of the 
line, but has two delimiters:


/* comment */


This allows us to write:


foobar(a, b /* comment on b */, c, d, e, f);


foobar(a, b /* comment on b
  that spans two lines */, c, d, e, f);


/* multiline comment
   often seen in C/C++ code

*/
 


 
I have sometimes missed this possibility when writing Python code. To my 
knowledge there is no equivalent to /* */ in Python.

I don't care much about choice of delimiter. Perhaps ### comment ### is 
the most intuitive, as it has resemblance to triple-quotes for text 
strings? It also stands out clearly in black/white text.


foobar(a, b ### comment on b ###, c, d, e, f)


foobar(a, b ### comment on b
  that spans two lines ###, c, d, e, f)


###
comment that spans multiple lines
###


If this breaks a lot of existing code, perhaps something else like %% 
could be used?


foobar(a, b %% comment on b
  that spans two lines %%, c, d, e, f)



P.S. In Python we can emulate multiline comments using triple-quoted 
strings, but conceptually strings and comments are very different. I.e. 
strings are objects, comments are auxillary text discarded at compile 
time. Strings are objects created at runtime, comments are not.



Regards,
Sturla Molden